Elemental: Chapter Eleven, Part 1

Chapter Eleven: Beginnings Bring Hope

“You need to pack, honey,” someone said, shaking me gently. In the moment before I opened my eyes, I wished I would see Mom sitting beside me, exactly the way Dad always saw her in his memories. It would have been perfect timing if it were her. I felt like I could use the extra support.

Valetta had pulled her hair back and was wearing a tank top and gouchos, both in black. Outside, the sky was still gloomy, but it wasn’t as depressing as rain.

I was disappointed it hadn’t been Mom, despite knowing it had been a long shot.

“Whatever you think you need, pack it,” she instructed. “Do not leave anything too revealing about yourself if you can help it.”

“We’re leaving tonight.” She didn’t have to tell me she was frightened tonight might be too late, or the journey might be too long for the younger kids. I could tell.

She nodded and left, passing Nick outside my window as she traveled to break the news to others. I watched other vampires traversing between cabins—their mission difficult but necessary—as I waited for Nick.

He didn’t step into my room, but waited just outside. I turned away from the window, digging out my duffel and piling clothes inside.

“I don’t know what to do,” Nick started, slow and painfully. There was a tremor to his voice. “How do I make it up to you? For everything I’ve done?”

Gazing up at him, I smiled. Despite everything that had transpired, I loved him in my own way. “Don’t worry about it.” I wanted to add we had all screwed up, but the moment wasn’t long enough.

“If you insist,” he replied, staring at his feet and coming inside to sit on my bed.

“Is there something else?” I inquired, joining him, aware something had changed in him. There was this air about him. I vaguely hoped he would relent what Drei had guarded so dearly.

“Yeah. I spoke with Gloria; she requested I see her, oddly enough,” Nick said slowly.

“And?”

“Well…I better know my part in this play.”

“All the world’s a stage,” I recited distractedly.

“And all the men and women merely players. Shakespeare knew what he was talking about.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. “What play are we in?”

He looked shocked and I hated that expression, more than I had before. If people—namely Drei, Mitchell, and, now, Nick—would just tell me instead of being riddle masters, I wouldn’t have to ask the obvious questions. It wasn’t such a difficult concept to grasp. Or was I alone in thinking that?

“The play of your life. Every event, every person, it’s all leading up to your shining moment.”

“And what is my shining moment, pray tell?”

“That’s like asking what I wished,” he replied, smiling that slightly crooked smile with which I first fell in love. “You’re never supposed to tell.”

“Punk,” I teased, disappointed, but knowing everything would have to make sense at some point in time. Who knew if that time would ever come, but it seemed worthless to resist waiting for it.

I expected him to leave then as I couldn’t imagine there was anymore reason for him to stay; I wasn’t sure if I wanted him to leave, though, despite what I now knew about him.

“Can I ask something?”

“Why not?” I responded, shrugging.

He looked extremely serious and almost grave. “May I have one more kiss?”

I nearly fell off the bed laughing. His manner and the question were such a stark contrast to each other, I couldn’t help it. Nick caught my flailing arm before I tumbled sideways.

Instead of saying anything, I kissed him. His breath was warm and his lips soft, just as they had always been. But this kiss was different. This kiss felt more like saying “See ya, sugar” than “Hello, gorgeous.”

“Two things,” he whispered when our lips parted. “This isn’t goodbye, no matter what it feels like. I’m just bowing out for the act.” A gentle smile played along his lips, his jade eyes glinting with a hint of sorrow. “Secondly, now I can tell Gloria she was wrong about something.”

“Wrong about what?”

He wrapped me in his arms again, and it felt more like a goodbye by the second. Tears pressed at my eyes, my heart aching. I had expected this moment to come—I didn’t think Drei would let him come with us. We couldn’t risk anything more. It was a miracle enough I was going, though I don’t know how much of that was thanks to Valetta.

“She said you wouldn’t kiss me.” As he held me tighter, tears soaked his shoulder and our laughter rippled around us. Part of me wished he could say goodbye without joking; another part of me wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Elemental: Chapter Ten, Part 6

I woke up in my bed, buried beneath several comforters, alone again. Nothing in me felt like moving, eating, or anything. Everything still came to me, despite the light tapping on my window. I couldn’t even question why that was; I started to, and then the words flew away.

Nick stopped by, an apology planned. I didn’t roll over to face him; I knew he had already reported the camp; it was either that or be imprisoned with the rest of us since they had likely avoided interfering as long as we were oblivious. He relented sputtering when I didn’t move or say anything.

Drei’s voice drifted to me from wherever he was, disconnected and nonchalant. He never mentioned my name, and avoided any questions concerning me. He was always in a meeting, too, discussing how to save the others, and what to do about Nick. His ignorance of my existence may have deeply scarred me if I could care; but nothing mattered anymore. It was better for everyone if I just stayed away and kept out of things.

It might have been hours or days I laid there; time didn't seem to move in its conventional way, or perhaps I had merely lost my ability to pin it down. I was unable to ignore anyone, listening to everything around me, whether it meant something or not. Nick came in at some point, though, and freaked. I didn’t look to see what he was freaking about, but I knew he went straight to Drei. I tried to direct my listening to other conversations, not wanting their argument to take precedence.

The next moment, it seemed, Drei was at my side, kneeling.

“Abriel,” he whispered, fraught.

I sat up, turning to face him. “Yes?” I questioned, my voice devoid of emotion. That was another thing I didn’t seem capable of holding onto for long.

Drei reached for my hand, taking it in his and kissing it. “You…the air is consuming you,” he managed, his voice unsure.

“I’m fine…Drei?” I was just beginning to realize the worry. He couldn’t see me. I sat half inside my body; its visage was pale, the blue-gray eyes cold and unseeing. My chest barely moved with breath. “What’s happening?” I was not yet panicking, but slightly interested in this translucent state.

“Abriel,” Drei whispered, ensuring Nick—standing in the doorway—couldn’t hear. “Your body will die, though, essentially, you will not; your soul will become a part of the air.” As he spoke—the words difficult for him to muster—I couldn’t help but consider how peaceful that sounded. The air gives life to everything, sees everywhere, and, though sometimes destructive, essential for so many aspects of livelihood. Few people blamed the air for wrongdoing; it was opposite me in nearly every way it seemed. “If you do not wish for that to happen,” Drei continued, “then you have to use what control you yet possess and pull yourself back into your body, but—but you must do it quickly.”

I listened to the instructions, because I always listened to him. But I didn’t want to go back. What did I even have to go back to? He wasn’t upset with me only because I was in this situation, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t still hate me. It made more sense for me to let this run its course. Maybe I would finally have my wish granted and find some long-lived happiness; maybe they would both find some peace.

Nick wasn’t crying, but he wasn’t the kind to let his emotions overcome him—not these kinds of emotions anyway. When I turned to gaze down at Drei, I felt my heart beat again. Tears streamed down his ashen cheeks, his eyes an amethyst so pale, they were nearly white. He didn’t make any sound, but he clutched my hand as if it were his only lifeline.

Those tears were the deciding factor. I had never known Drei to cry, and something about what Valetta had said earlier echoed in my mind: I had fought for Nick because I wanted him to stay. Now it was time to do something that wasn’t for me, even if it meant forfeiting something that sounded so ideal.

It took a few minutes, but with enough convincing and a touch of stitching, I settled back into my body, warmth flooding me, blood pulsing at a steady rate, and the sounds outside my room dissipating into nothingness. Drei’s hand still held mine tight, but flew away the moment I began to sit up.

My mind raced between my possible reactions, finally deciding to still be wary of his temper.

“It won’t happen again,” I promised.

I lay back down, drowsy, ignoring Nick and Drei. They had gotten on well enough without me the last few days. I didn’t want to be in anyone’s way.

Besides, it left me time to ponder what else was coming. Jake had been right; loving Nick had almost cost me my life. Not because of anyone else, but because of myself. What was yet to come, I couldn’t fathom. It all seemed dark and helpless from there. I had very possibly passed up my one chance to do something useful.

Elemental: Chapter Ten, Part 5

I gazed out the misty window, tears fogging my vision. Everything was a twisted muddle of emotions and beliefs. None of it was supposed to happen; not this way. And yet there I was, facing a doomed camp filled with children who didn’t yet know they were a few days from government imprisonment.

Before tears could overtake me completely, I sauntered slowly into the fresh downpour. Though rain suffocated my powers, I hoped it would suffocate my emotions and drown my heart, killing it before the pain could.

Standing on the edge of the pier, I felt the air around me freeze, unable to attend to me, even if I had called it. The rain bled through my clothes and seemed to penetrate through to my very core. I threw back my head, openly crying now, my arms outstretched and my hair clinging desperately to my skin, as though pleading for me to go in. I heard the plants sigh, grateful for the rain after the unusually warm winter, but hoping it would soon end. The trees breathed peacefully in their bare skin, sleeping through the traumatic events crushing my imperfectly rebuilt world.

Everything seemed to speak to me, bringing its peaceful nature to my ears, until my entire body was flooded with the sensation of every living plant and creature within the surrounding area. Not even voices within the cabins were safe from my prying.

“Drei,” I heard Valetta saying as if she was next to me. “She is outside—”

“Leave me alone, Valetta.” If I hadn’t already been numbed from the noise and rain, a dagger would have pierced my heart at his words. I had expected as much, but it didn’t stop it from threatening to hurt.

I heard him walk away and Valetta plead, “She needs you. You are the one who said she was more important than anyone else.” There were tears in her voice.

A long pause ensued. At the end of it, Drei replied, “I was wrong.”

The conversation faded out and someone else’s voice found purchase in my thoughts.

“Why is Abriel so sad, Nick?” a small voice questioned. “You did something, and now she’s sad. What happened?”

“People hurt other people, Mikael,” Nick replied softly, a rough edge to his voice, as though he were hurting as much as anyone. As though he deserved to be in as much pain. He didn’t, though. Nick wasn’t losing as much as some of us; he was one of theirs. He was safe.

“Abriel doesn’t hurt anyone. She takes care of us all; she makes us all friends,” Mikael insisted, flustered.

“No,” Nick said angrily. “Everyone hurts someone, and we hurt each other, and—”

“You don’t love her like we do—else you’d know, Nick. Abriel doesn’t like to hurt people,” Mikael argued back.

“You don’t get it!” Nick yelled, storming to another part of the cabin, leaving Mikael to wonder.

Their voices faded in a cacophony of sound erupting in my body. They all said the same thing. But I wouldn’t believe them. Everything had failed, again. I would never be able to lead any kind of content life; I was broken, and ruined life for anyone I came in contact with. The amazement that filled my senses until I overloaded and passed out wasn’t real. They were imagining someone else in my place.

Broken people always fell.

Free, normal, harmonious people were the only ones who could ever dream of flying.

Elemental: Chapter Ten, Part 4

The rain had returned, gentler, but still managing to melt my anger into tears.

I debated whether to go straight to Drei or leave it until morning. The best choice, much as I hated to admit it, was telling Drei. I prayed his wrath wouldn’t be as terrible as I imagined.

Drei was holding a mug of what I guessed to be tea—mostly from the herbal scent floating around the cabin—between his hands, Valetta sitting across from him at the small table in the front room, sipping from her own cup. Both gazed up slowly.

“Yes?” Drei questioned distantly.

I couldn’t stop the tears from coming; I had never screwed up so much in my entire life. Why hadn’t I seen this coming?

Valetta came to me, hushing my tears, pushing my dank hair from my face. “Is it Nick?” she asked.

I nodded, knowing it was nowhere near what she thought it was.

“What about Nick? Did you two have a fight?” she probed softly, a hand rubbing circles in my back for comfort.

“He’s a bounty hunter,” I whispered, scared for my life, knowing it needed to be done. Not for myself, but for everyone else here. Whatever solution was found, I doubted it would be extended to me after this. I didn’t deserve it.

Drei was before me in a flash, looking as though he wanted to shake me senseless, his face flushed and eyes brilliantly amethyst. “What?”

I inhaled, trying not to fold under his harsh eyes. “Nick is a bounty hunter; he just told me”.

“Why did you not listen to me?” he thundered, shoving Valetta—my one companion in this place—away. “If you had just trusted me, this would not have happened!”

“It would have happened anyway, Drei,” I said, holding back my tears, but my voice cracking. “You wouldn’t understa—you couldn’t even see I was alone;” I ran from the room.

Just outside the door, I heard Valetta start to rip into him, so I kneeled below the window, listening.

“You had no right to yell at her in that manner,” Valetta whispered threateningly. “She did something for herself, which makes sense since she does so much for everyone else.”

“And what about our situation because of this?” Drei hissed, equally hostile.

“It was going to happen sooner or later,” she responded, reeling her anger in slightly.

“No,” Drei yelled back at her. “If I had been able to do what needed to be done, this never would have happened.”

“No, it just might have been worse,” Valetta replied, keeping calmer than Drei. “Abriel might have just run off by now and wound up in a worse mess. Then you would have been in an irrevocable moodiness.”

“That is not the issue!”

She didn’t flinch; “Drei, it does not take an elemental to know sometimes the heart sees in people what people are unable to see in themselves.” As she turned on a heel and disappeared into one of the rooms, she added softly, “Why do you think we love you?”

Elemental: Chapter Ten, Part 3

It stopped raining. I had spent the sleepless night trying to pinpoint the exact moment in time where everything began to change from so blissfully wonderful to extraordinarily turbulent.

The air of my cabin was spoiled with hopelessness, the walls closing in on my depression. Without another thought, I ran through the forest to where the brook babbled and the gray sky clearly threatened another cloudburst. My sneakers were soggy with mud and the brook looked more like a river that had outgrown its bed. My eyes caught something brightly colored further down the overflowing brook, and my feet marched toward it, uncaring of the water sloshing into my shoes or the suctioning mud.

A bright red footbridge had been set up, rather recently from the unused look of it. I wondered who had placed it here, and in the same moment thought I knew the answer. I used the sleeve of my college sweater to clean up some of the water and sat down, removing my sneakers. Dropping the damp shoes beside me, I dangled my feet in the clear rainwater; I followed the created ripples, watching them collide and spread, wondering if I might ever affect people in such a manner—without the drama and broken hearts.

“What are you thinking about?” Nick questioned; he plopped down beside me, my shoes separating us.

“I’m thinking about if any of this was worth coming, and if everything might have turned out okay if I had just stayed instead of running away. If any of this changes anything.”

I refused to look up at him, I knew what was coming, and I realized it was time he knew. If he hated me because of it, perhaps it was better that way. If he loved me all the more, would it change anything? Would I love him more and be willing to prove it the way he wanted me to? Now I didn’t know, but in a moment it would be clear.

“I’m glad you came,” he said, putting off the inevitable. “I never would have fallen in love if you had never come.”

“Stop,” I pleaded, tired of him beating around the bush. He had no problem asking before; was he afraid of what I would say as much as I was? It was the only logic I could find in his actions.

He took a long while building up his courage to ask. In the silence I regretted never telling him before. There were millions of opportunities, the only thing stopping me being the fact I didn’t want him to look at me like a diseased girl who cared more about new purses for every occasion than world hunger.

“Why are you here?” he finally asked. “How did Drei save you?”

I took a huge breath in before saying, “On my seventeenth birthday, I came into my…gifts.”

He sat, watching me as I kept my eyes locked on the new ripples in the water. I told him everything, from Drei explaining elementals and the history and future, the bounty hunter at school, my public freak out, and how Drei gave me an out. The easy out that I was too numb to pass up. I left out my conversation with my father, but included how Drei helped me begin rebuilding, and then the children, and, lastly, him and Valetta.

“I owe Drei more than I want to admit,” I finished softly, my pride hurting as I shared this truth. “He saved me from—from everyone.”

“Even yourself?”

“Yeah,” I whispered. “I wish he hadn’t have had a need to save me; I wish bounty hunters didn’t exist, the government didn’t see us as some abomination. We were just seen as people who can make things better. What makes us so different we can’t be left alone? We always have to look over our shoulders wondering when we have to uproot next. It isn’t fair,” I asserted, holding his jade eyes, searching for answers, afraid of what I might find.

“It’s not their fault,” Nick said quietly, slipping from the footbridge and standing in the water. He didn’t look at me as he said, “Bounty hunters are in a similar boat.”

“It is their fault, Nick,” I cried, not holding anything back. He couldn’t take their side; I wouldn’t allow him to. “After that hunter left, I was terrified of who was watching. It killed me inside not being able to be who I was—who I am. I didn’t know when another might show up, or if he would be so obviously a bounty hunter. You have no idea what it’s like running all the time from someone you can’t be sure is even there. It’s terrifying and nerve-wracking and a thousand other things—constantly; it’s so consummately exhausting trying to figure out who’s a step ahead and who’s still back in square one.”

“I know!” Nick shouted, turning around and grabbing my shoulders. “You don’t know what it’s like to have the government breathing down your neck all because they think you’re one smart cookie and a possible asset.”

Nick stopped suddenly, breathing heavily, but terror obvious on his face. He let go of me and turned away again, running a hand through his hair. It took a couple of cycles to comprehend exactly what he had just said. Pain and anger flooded me. I really had ruined everything. And Nick—the person I thought was on my side—had let me believe a lie.

“Why,” I began, my voice trembling, “if you love me, did you never tell me before you were a bounty hunter?”

He whipped around and reached out to me, trying to comfort me or assure himself it wasn’t as bad as I made it sound.

“Get away from me!” I shouted, leaving him and my shoes behind, afraid I might do something I would regret while the ferocity was still fresh. And to think I had been afraid of what he might think of me.

Elemental: Chapter Ten, Part 2

“Stop it,” I laughed, waving Nick away. It was the fourth day straight of torrential downpour and Nick decided to abandon Mikael—for whatever reason—and spend the day with me. It was a splendid idea, mostly because he had stopped asking if we were still good. In fact, his entire attitude had taken a complete 180. The only downside was, the moment he came through the door he couldn’t seem to stop kissing me.

Nick hadn’t answered my questions about what had gotten into him, or what was the special occasion. He was single-minded in his pursuit, and when I didn’t stop talking, he kissed my extremely ticklish neck, thus the laughter. The situation itself wasn’t preferable, but it was better than him questioning everything.

I pushed him away, saying, “Nick, no more. Talk to me. Stop—”

“Don’t you just want to be with me?” he asked, his eyes focused and serious. They were brighter than usual with a twinge of sadness. “Really be with me?”

“What do you mean?” I tore out of his embrace, pretty sure I didn’t like where this was going.

“I love you,” he said, ceasing to move; he just stared, waiting for my reply.

“I love you, too. That’s no reason to be so touchy all of a sudden.”

“We’ve been together for nine months, Abriel. Let go already.” He grabbed me in his arms, engaging my lips again. His hand started to slip under my shirt.

“Cut it out!” I shouted, forcing him the room length away. “I love you, but I am not putting up with you trying to feel like—like you need extra confirmation.” I didn’t even try to erase the anger from my voice.

“Abriel—”

“Leave. I do not want to hear it,” I asserted, jabbing a finger toward the door. “Not from you.”

“Abriel, listen—”

“Go away.” When he moved toward me instead of the door, I sent a burst of air to shove him outside. Standing in the doorway, I added, “When I want to see you again, I’ll come to you.”

It seemed the moment I turned my back, fighting exploded behind me. Drei pushed Nick down and he slid through the mud, rebounding like a pro to ineffectively shove Drei. It really pissed me off, the entire situation. Even though both knew I hated it, here they were fighting, and to top it off, in the rain. I ran outside, quickly becoming soaked—adding to my fabulous mood—yelling at them to grow up, since I couldn’t just break up the whole shenanigan.

“Shut up!” I bellowed as loud as I could, stepping between the two and shoving them apart. Breathing heavily, I turned to Nick first. “You, leave,” I said, my dark blonde hair sticking to my face and shirt, sending rivulets of water down my skin. “Don’t ever think you can touch me again; not ever.” Then I swiveled on Drei, his features shocked, and a voice in the back of my mind wondered what I looked like. “I don’t need a white knight, okay? This is a new world, and I can handle things myself; I don’t need you fighting for me.”

Drei’s features sank, and I realized he really did think I needed his help protecting my honor and whatnot. But I didn’t. It was better he realized that now.

“Just go…both of you,” I finished, exasperated. “Leave me alone.” I threw my hands up as I went back to my cabin.

Why were guys so difficult? And how in the world did I ever end up between two of the most hardheaded guys in existence?

Elemental: Chapter Ten, Part 1

Chapter Ten: Wolfish Sheep

New Years came with less pizzazz than Halloween but, like all beginnings, it had a way of staying memorable.

Waking up that morning, I hadn’t realized what was coming, or even what had passed, and it hadn’t occurred to me the old year was over but not yet out. It was raining and a miserable day, but memories never let you stay down long, especially not on New Years.

My year was bittersweet at best. I loved Nick, lost Drei—in a sense—and rebuilt a life when I wasn’t sure there was anything left to start over. It seemed impossible Nick had only arrived ten months ago, or that already we were so close. Neither did it seem likely Valetta and I were best friends, confiding everything—though not always saying it aloud. My relationship with the kids blossomed, but suffered slightly due to Nick. I was like their temp mom: here to kiss the scrapes better, dry the tears, and work out disagreements. It was amusing, to Nick, anyway. I took it seriously.

Two things I couldn’t manage to keep from my thoughts long were the fact something might be wrong with Drei, and Jake’s warning. I had said everything because it had felt right; but the more I thought about it, I wasn’t ready to give up anything; not Nick, Drei, the kids, Valetta, or my life. None of it. But I sensed judgment on my promise was closing in. There was something in the air that made me anxious, even through the downpour.

Elemental: Chapter Nine, Part 5

Christmas rolled around, much the same as the past year. The main difference being I didn’t stand off on my own. I leaned against Nick, watching the children scramble for their gifts. The eldest children—one of them being Jake—and a few not yet 15, received transcripts as a present. They had decided they were ready to go home again. The good-bye party was that night. Some would be escorted back by train, but most by taxis to the nearest airport.

I was slightly upset at seeing some of them leave. But that was the reality. They grew up somewhere they could be safe and explore their elements. Then, when they were ready, they said farewell. I just never thought it would be so difficult to see them go; I had underestimated how much I had grown attached to them all.

Mitchell waved, and I knew there wasn’t a surprise present this year. I wasn’t shocked, honestly. That would be more difficult to explain to Nick than my comment on light hearts. He still asked about that.

“I have a surprise for you,” Nick said, tugging slightly on my hand. I followed him to my cabin.

On the front step lay a blanket of flowers. Initially, I was overwhelmed at his thoughtfulness. Then I realized where the flowers had come from, and I couldn’t hide my disappointment. I thought he would be more respectful towards the garden. It wasn’t his and I knew he hadn’t asked. Even if he had, I doubted Drei would have approved.

“They’re lovely, Nick,” I responded, the sorrow painfully obvious in my voice.

“Everything all right?” Though I didn’t face him, I knew he was worried about me. I could feel it and, for once, I was tired of his emotions permeating my own.

“I’m just tired,” I lied, gathering the blooms in my arms. “I think I’m going to sleep for a little bit.”

“Okay,” he replied, a hint of disbelief slipping through. He didn’t press me, though.

The flowers were arranged on the windowsill where the ice sculpture used to sit before it melted. The rocking chair helped me to feel better, but I was worse off than before and there was only so much help for that.

“Do you really love him?”

I jumped, not realizing Jake had even entered and now stood in the doorway.

“Don’t sneak up like that,” I needlessly warned, forgetting for a moment he was leaving that night.

“Do you love Nick?”

“What’s this about?” I asked, instead. I didn’t really want to think about this even though I had been for much longer than I wanted to. “Why are you asking?”

“Something isn’t right, Abriel. Not about Nick, and not about you,” he said. I had never seen him so serious, which was saying a lot since he was possibly the most serious of all the children here. “You changed when he came. Though we’re happy that you’re happier, none of us think this is going to end well.”

“Who is ‘we’?”

“All of us,” Jake responded as though this was obvious. “There’s been this really weird vibe surrounding Nick since before summer. And it’s starting to infect you;” he stepped into the room, burying his hands in his pockets. “That night we visited—you said it was you. The problem wasn’t Nick or Drei.”

“It was me,” I insisted, trying to follow where this was going, how any of this was important.

He shook his head. “It wasn’t just you. If you think about it, you’ll know it wasn’t just you.”

That memory started to revive in my mind before I shoved it aside. I didn’t want to think about it. Part of me was afraid that if I did, I would discover I had made a mistake, even though I wanted so desperately to believe I hadn’t.

“So why do you want to know if I love him?”

“Because love is worth any cost,” he responded softly. “That’s what Mom always said before I came here. She knew the truth about this camp, and she felt it was the best for me. When I asked her if she didn’t love me anymore, she told me she loved me more than ever. And that it was only temporary. She said love was worth whatever you had to give up.”

Listening to him, I wondered how many of the others had similar stories I had never asked about. It also made me question how much I was willing to give up for Nick. Over the last months, I had started to think it was love, but they say you never know what love is until it’s gone. I just couldn’t be sure about anything, it seemed.

“How much would you give up for Nick?” His eyes studied me, taking in everything but not casting judgment on whatever they saw.

“Everything,” I replied, the word heavy and light on my tongue.

Jake nodded sadly. “The Moon will hold you to that soon enough.”

“What do you mean?” Since when did the moon have anything to do with this? I felt like he was trying to go somewhere and was losing me along the way. But I didn’t want to be lost.

Jake launched into a brief explanation; “Every promise is tested, and the Lady of the Moon watches to ensure they’re upheld.”

“How, though?”

“Ask Drei sometime. He holds her to her word just as much as she binds him to his; it’s why he always watches out for her.” Jake started to leave, but turned at the last moment, adding, “If you really are willing to give up everything for him, be careful, Abriel. You’re a great person, but the price might just be your life.”

Elemental: Chapter Nine, Part 4

Halloween sprang upon us like a black cat possessed. The kids were ecstatic with the annual party the vampires threw for them: costumes, candy, apples, and haunted house included. I reveled in watching Nick jump at a murderer popping from behind a wall or Freddie laughing eerily through a cardboard boiler room. He complained it wasn’t fair I knew what was coming and didn’t share. I thought it was plenty fair, telling him so before he’d kiss me to stop the words. I wonder if he realized that was just more incentive.

After the children slipped into whatever dreams awaited them, Nick and I slipped away into the forest, determined to explore new, unoccupied haunts.

“Nick?” I called out, losing sight of him among the trees. He had been there one moment and not the next.

When he didn’t reappear, smiling to assure me he wasn’t far off, I continued on in the direction in which I last saw him go. The branches bounced harmlessly away from me, almost as though they were leading me. To what, I wasn’t sure.

Opening up my senses—easy now as I had been practicing—I could hear someone just ahead. I froze when voices drifted through the greenery.

“—have tried, Valetta,” Drei’s voice sang out, distressed. “Every day and there is no chance.”

“Stop trying so hard, Drei,” Valetta scolded, and I wondered what exactly was so taxing.

“It is not as easy as you make it out to be. There are times and places for these things,” Drei asserted, and I realized he was losing this disagreement. Already his voice had a defensive edge to it.

“Do yourself a favor, Drei, and stop thinking through every little thing,” she whispered harshly. I couldn’t remember a time she had ever been so angry, especially with Drei. “Just say it already.”

“I—”

“If he asked her to leave tonight, she would be gone forever and you would be more miserable than you are now. Is that what you want?”

“Leave, Valetta,” Drei sneered. “You have no right to bother me here.”

“Oh, right; it is your garden. Your secret place that was supposed to help you remove the hate and fear in your—”

“Go!” Drei barked, his voice cracking.

I ran, terrified and curious and ashamed. Valetta had said no one stood up to Drei, but there she was doing just that. And what was wrong with Drei? On top of that, why hadn’t I thought about whose garden it was? I mean, it should have been obvious as it smelled just like him. No wonder he was so livid that night. We had disturbed him where he was supposed to have peace, or semblance of it.

“Hey,” Nick said as I plowed into him, both of us tumbling to the ground. “Where are you going so fast?”

“Trying to find you,” I lied, but feeling somewhat better now that he was by me. “Don’t lose me again.” I hit his chest lightly with the back of my fingers.

“Not a chance.” He helped me up but didn’t let go of my hand. “Come on. I’ve found a place even better than the garden.”

A few minutes later he turned to me. “It’s right past those pine trees.”

“You want me to go first?”

“Not afraid are you?” His eyes gleamed in the dark.

“It’s not some steep cliff you want me to step off of, is it?”

“You aren’t that lucky.”

“I guess I’ll just have to trust you,” I said, starting away cautiously. Just beyond I could hear running water and the excited buzz of lightening bugs.

“Go on,” he encouraged, a pace behind me. “If a cliff has managed to appear, I’ll catch you.”

Pushing aside the tree limbs, I saw what he had meant. Though I wasn’t so tickled about the babbling brook—now that I knew what water meant for me—it fit gorgeously in with the open field. I imagined deer running through with their fawns during summer and perhaps cubs frolicking in springtime. I doubted there were any bears or deer around though. I hadn’t seen any in the year I had been there, but you never know.

“Knew it,” Nick said, standing beside me again. “You watch too many chick flicks and now you can’t help but love scenery like this.”

“What’s wrong with that? You are the one who keeps bringing me to these places.”

“If I had known…” He shook his head, wearing that crooked smile of his.

“But see, you did,” I teased, smiling and tapping a finger against the center of his chest.

“There’s an amazing view tonight,” Nick said, changing the subject as he pulled me closer to the brook. “The moon is beautiful;” he stopped and wrapped his arms around me.

“It is;” my arms wound their way around Nick, my head resting on his shoulder. I wondered if Drei was also watching the moon. “A shooting star,” I whispered, following the streak through the sky.

“Make a wish.”

Closing my eyes, I made my wish, praying it would come true.

“What did you wish for?” I questioned without thinking.

“Even I know not to ask that,” Nick said, laughing. His jade eyes glowed as he looked down at me. “You’re beautiful.”

“You always tell me that;” I rested my head on his shoulder again, not wanting to kiss him. I couldn’t explain why, but I didn’t feel like we needed to.

“Abriel,” he gasped, my name barely even a breath.

“Yes?”

“I thought I saw a witch fly by the moon,” he said slowly, as if he was unsure of what he had seen and second guessed himself as he spoke.

“Do you really believe in those tales?”

He smiled down at me, a secret in his eyes. I knew he did, and I half-heartedly believed it as well. It was hard not to believe in a bit of all of that after so much had happened. But lesson one with Nick: never pass up an opportunity to tease. It always kept things interesting and humorous.

“Maybe one day you’ll fly across the moon and blow a kiss down to me,” he suggested, breezing past my remark. “Or you could take me with you.”

“I’ll never fly,” I told him, shaking my head. If only he knew…but I couldn’t just tell him. I didn’t know if he would tell someone else, or even how he would react. “You have to have a light heart to fly,” I reasoned, ignoring his questions as to what I meant. That answer was just too complex.